There are many sayings and proverbs about actions and consequences, all of them warning us about the effects of our decisions and behavior. American engineer, philosopher and author, Alfred A. Montapert, famously wrote:
“Nobody ever did, or ever will, escape the consequences of his choices.”
Luis Ayala
There are many analogies/similarities between the real world and the distilled spirits industry. When it comes to aging spirits, Montapert’s words couldn’t be more accurate: when barrels are emptied, their contents will be undeniably tied to the chemical composition of what filled them in the first place, modified by the barrels themselves and by the environmental conditions that were in place during the barrels’ residence in the aging cellar.
For seasoned distillers, with multi-generational experience at play, this is not a challenge. But for new, inexperienced distillers/brands, not knowing what to put inside the barrels, or how to properly age them, can be a catastrophic mistake.
While it is impossible to accurately predict future weather patterns, it is very possible to measure the actual weather and to adjust our plans if reality deviates from the predicted model.
Take, for example, finishing a spirit in a specialty cask. In this example, we are trying to recreate an exquisite prototype that was finished 90 days during a very hot summer. Let’s think now about how the finishing cask will behave in our aging cellar during the next 90 days, possibly the coldest 90 days of the year:
the average temperature of the distillate inside the cask will be much colder
the daily temperature Delta (the difference between each day’s hottest and coldest temperatures) will also be decreased
the amount of wood extractives will be reduced
the rate of oxidation/acidification inside the barrel will be slower
As you can imagine, the consequence of literally following a formula, without a full understanding of how the aging process is dependent on climate, would result in an inferior quality and, in the words of Robert Louis Stevenson, “sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.”
Cheers!
Luis Ayala, Editor and Publisher
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rumconsultant